


When Draco Met Hermione

by I_was_BOTWP



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, New Year's Eve, New Year's Resolutions, Post-Hogwarts, When Harry Met Sally - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 15:40:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17206142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_was_BOTWP/pseuds/I_was_BOTWP
Summary: A look at how two people who have little in common, and insist they can not even be friends, could fall in love over time. Based upon the movie When Harry Met Sally. Dramione.





	When Draco Met Hermione

**Author's Note:**

> This piece was written for the Facebook group Dramione Fanfiction Forum’s New Years Eve Resolutions Fest. It turned into a longer story than I anticipated, so only the first chapter is being posted at this time. If you have seen the movie this is based on, then you know that it will culminate in a New Year’s Eve scene. For now, I hope you enjoy this opening chapter. All of the beta love goes to the amazing HeartOfAspen.

_“The first time we met, we were eleven years old. We weren’t exactly… friends.”_

_“We were enemies. Just say it.”_

_“I prefer adversaries.”_

_“We spent six years being… adversaries.”_

_“Then, we didn’t see each other for a year. We became... reacquainted during our final year of school. While we weren’t exactly adversaries in the way we had formerly been, we certainly could not be called friendly.”_

_“We spent that final year at school doing our bloody best to ignore each other.”_

_“And when we parted ways at the end of that year, we were prepared to never see each other again.”_

* * *

 “I’m going to work at the Ministry. Move to London and make things happen,” Hermione Granger told Padma Patil in a low voice, attempting not to sound overly fervent. She could not, however, stop herself from bouncing on her toes to expend some of her nervous energy. So far, she had only confided her plans to Harry, but it would be public knowledge soon enough. “Kingsley, I mean, Minister Shacklebolt, offered me a position where I can help to rewrite the laws governing magical creatures.”

As the sun slipped toward the horizon, the two women stood on the edge of Black Lake, waiting for their turn to get into a small wooden boat. A light breeze coming off the water brought the smell of pine from the forest around them. The wind gently caught Hermione’s golden highlighted hair, a few curls floating towards the shadows lengthening behind her.

Around Hermione and Padma, a small group loosely congregated; most of the young adults had already paired off in anticipation of sharing boats with their friends. After what should have been their final year at Hogwarts was ruined by war, the dozen students who had decided to come back for an additional year had had a separate leaving ceremony. It had been a quiet affair. Inside the castle, a more raucous event was capping the end of the year for the rest of the first through seventh years. By the time the masses eventually poured out of Hogwarts, the sun would have set and these twelve eighth-years would be long gone.

“That sounds like the perfect job for you!” Padma smoothed her robes and flicked a bit of perfectly straight glossy black hair over her shoulder. “I plan to -”

“Poor, delusional Granger,” a sneering voice interrupted. “I bet you think you’re going to make a _difference_ , slaving away in the Magical Creatures Department. I bet you’ll hole yourself up in your office late every night, and on the weekends too, just like you did in the library here. You’ll tell yourself you’re making a _noble sacrifice_. The reality is, you’ll be making no money, slowly starving away in some rat-infested flat the size of my closet.”

Whipping her head around, the smile fell from her face and the excited bouncing stopped. She was unsurprised to find the voice belonged to Draco Malfoy. Through narrowed eyes, she stared at the pale wizard, who was leaning against a pile of trunks, cooly assessing her. It was arguably the most casual she had ever seen him look, with his hair tousled, tie missing and the top button on his oxford open. The only hint of tension was evident in the corded muscles revealed by his sleeves partially rolled up arms folded across his chest. Completely forgetting Padma, Hermione prepared to give him an earful.

During the first term of the past school year, from the first of September until Christmas break, Draco and Hermione had only spoken a handful of words to one another: an arrangement that suited them both just fine. Not long after returning from the holidays, they had been partnered on an Arithmancy project. Tersely conversing over a school assignment for a few weeks had not done much to improve their overall opinions of each other. However, he had not called her a Mudblood, and she had refrained from calling him Death Eater scum. Not that she actually thought that about him, but it had popped into her head as a possible retort if he ever dared call her a Mudblood again.

Unfortunately, while Hermione took a second too long to formulate a proper response, Draco kept right on talking. “Aren’t you planning to reunite with and marry the Weasel, then pop out a few kids? He’s going to let you work?”

“I think you’re mistakenly speaking about your own pureblood aspirations, Malfoy. Use your money to buy yourself the perfect little wife whose only job will be getting pregnant with your spawn. Anyway, Ron and I are just friends,” she rolled her eyes, telling him the news she thought the entirety of Wizarding Britain already knew.

Rita Skeeter’s series last month, ‘Where are the Golden Trio now?’, had shown a picture of Ron snogging Katie Bell during a Quidditch match in Lancashire. The picture of Hermione exiting Tomes and Scrolls in Hogsmeade on a Saturday afternoon with Padma and Luna Lovegood had been surprisingly flattering, even if it had been intended to highlight how boring her life was.

Hermione turned back to Padma, prepared to spend her last few minutes on Hogwarts’ grounds doing what she had done for most of her career there - ignoring Draco Malfoy. She started to ask the other witch her plans upon leaving school, when once again, her conversation was interrupted by Draco’s condescending drawl.

“You’re obviously the one who is mistaken, Granger. Wizards and witches can’t be friends.”

“What?” Hermione asked him in disbelief, completely forgetting her plan to ignore him. Mimicking Draco’s body language, Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and lectured, “I’ll have you know that most people are perfectly capable of being friends with whomever they please. Ron, Harry, and I have been best friends for years.”

“Riiiight…” Draco drew out the word mockingly. Raising a brow at her, he pressed, “Weasley panted after you for ages. And Potter, well, maybe he’s bent?”

Hermione pursed her lips and scrunched up her nose. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she asked, “What are you trying to say Malfoy?”

“Objectively, you aren’t horrible to look at, Granger,” Theodore Nott broke in, suddenly stepping next to Draco’s side, as if the negatively charged atmosphere had pulled him into their orbit.

Huffing, Draco turned a cold eye on his friend. “That wasn’t what I was trying to say at all, Theo.”

A twitter behind Hermione caught her attention. It seemed they were gathering an audience.

“It sure sounded that way to me, mate,” Theo pressed, a sadistic smile playing across his sharp features.

“What I was trying to tell Granger,” Draco began, perhaps a bit louder than necessary, unless of course, he wanted to make sure he dispelled any unwanted rumors, “is that witches and wizards can’t be friends. The shagging part will always get in the way. No man can truly be friends with a woman he finds the least bit attractive, because on some level, he’ll always be thinking about how to get into her knickers.”

Raising her voice to match his, Hermione countered, “I just told you that I am friends with Harry, and we’ve never shagged.”

“Hence, my assertion that he’s gay,” Draco pointed out. He pushed himself off the wall, and stood tall, wearing a triumphant smirk.

Theo chuckled, “You know you’re still admitting you find Hermione attractive, yeah?”

Draco dragged his eyes down, then back up Hermione’s body. She was wearing sensible clothes - a pair of jeans and an old Gryffindor house shirt that was a bit ratty, but would be comfortable for traveling in. She had planned on few people seeing her in that outfit; her intent was to Apparate straight to Harry’s place from Hogsmeade, rather than taking the Hogwarts Express back. Draco’s disdainful look when he met her eyes again caused a flush to heat her cheeks.

“Wizards aren’t that picky.” His eyes cut to Theo, and he snickered, “Merlin knows you’re proof of that, Nott.”

Instead of getting upset, Theo’s eyes lit up with mirth. He threw his head back, laughing, and clapped his friend on the back. “You’ve got me there.”

“You’re a prick, Malfoy,” Hermione said, grabbing Padma’s hand, and pushing past the onlookers gathered around them, dragging her towards a boat that had just slid alongside the small dock. “Thank goodness we aren’t friends.”

“Didn’t you hear a word I said, Granger? Witches and wizards can’t be friends,” he called after Hermione as Padma settled onto the wooden seat across from her.

“You know what they say, Malfoy? Money can’t buy you love. Enjoy your empty, lonely life,” she shouted back at Draco, giving him a two fingered salute as the boat began moving away from the school.

The sound of Theo’s laughter followed them across the lake.


End file.
